How Charlevoix County’s state legislators voted

House and Senate sessions were shortened last week due to the death of Rep. John …

House and Senate sessions were shortened last week due to the death of Rep. John Kivela from Marquette.

This report includes some Senate budget votes and amendments from the previous week.

• Senate Bill 135, Senate version, 2017-18 Health and Human Services: Passed 25 to 13 in the Senate – The Senate version of the Department of Health and Human Services budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2017. This covers Medicaid and welfare programs and is by far the largest state budget. The Senate proposes $25.401 billion in gross spending, with $18.345 billion being federal money and the rest from state and local taxes and fees. The House-passed version (part of a multi-department “omnibus” spending bill) proposes spending $25.171 billion, or around $230 million less.
37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City Y

• Senate Bill 135, David Knezek amendment, add refugee assistance spending: Failed in the Senate 12 to 26 – To spend $1 million from state tax revenue on a refugee assistance program. Michigan already has this program, which is paid for with federal money. The amendment would add state tax money also.
37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City N

• Senate Bill 135, Bert Johnson amendment, add homelessness spending: Failed in the Senate 12 to 26 – To spend an additional $3.7 million on government homeless programs. Specifically, to give private and government social service agencies $16 for each night an individual stays, to be used for efforts to get these individuals into permanent housing and reduce recidivism. The budget includes a $100 “placeholder” for this and talks are continuing.
37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City N

• Senate Bill 140, Senate version, 2017-18 Department of Environmental Quality budget: Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate – The Senate version of the Department of Environmental Quality budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2017. This would appropriate $490 million in gross spending, of which $170 million is federal money, and the rest is from state and local taxes and fees. 37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City Y

• Senate Bill 140, Hoon-Yung Hopgood amendment, give Flint more for water contamination response: Failed 12 to 26 in the Senate – To give the city of Flint an additional $15 million to cover water bill reimbursements to residents after its 2015 drinking water contamination crisis. 37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City N

• Senate Bill 149, Senate version, 2017-18 K-12 School Aid budget: Passed 23 to 15 in the Senate – The Senate version of the K-12 school aid budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct 1, 2017. This bill would appropriate a total of $14.414 billion, compared to $14.161 billion approved last year. The House proposes to spend $14.309 billion, and in both versions $1.726 billion is federal money.
37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City Y

• Senate Bill 149, Coleman Young II amendment, give Detroit schools money for students who left: Failed 11 to 27 in the Senate – To allow the Detroit School District to keep getting per-pupil state money next year for students who had been enrolled in one of its schools that closed, but now go to a different school district. 37 Sen. Wayne Schmidt R – Traverse City N